Express Special | EC changes Form 6 for new voters without amendment to rules; seeks SIR details of parents

The EC’s ECINET portal, as accessed Saturday, showed an un-lettered “declaration form” part inserted in between part “J” and “K” of Form 6 that asks for details of the applicant or their parents in the last SIR. But the copy of the Form 6 available for download on the same portal, ostensibly for filling and submitting physically, does not include this new declaration part.

This part of the form was visible for applicants from all states and UTs where the SIR has concluded in 2025-2026 or is currently ongoing, except for Bihar, which was the first state to have the SIR in June last year, and Assam, where the EC has decided not to hold the SIR.

While the new part has not been marked mandatory, the user cannot move forward toward the submission before completing it.

It asks the applicant to pick from three options: “my name exists in Electoral Roll of last SIR; my parents name (Father, Mother, Grandfather, Grandmother) exists in the electoral roll of last SIR; neither my name nor my parents name exists in the electoral roll of last SIR”.

Upon selecting the first two options, the applicant is then required to provide the Assembly constituency, booth number and serial number of their or their parents’ name in the last SIR, which was held in the early 2000s or earlier this year for 12 states/UTs. In case the applicant cannot find the details, the only option is to select the third one. But the portal does not say what will happen if the applicant selects the last option.

While the EC sought the same details during the SIR in 12 states/UTs last year and also in the ongoing SIR in 19 states/UTs in its enumeration form for existing electors, Form 6 for new electors has not been amended since the EC started in SIR in June last year, a look at all gazette notifications by the Law Ministry since then shows.

It is the Central government that has the power to notify rules under Section 28 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 and Form 6 emanates from one such rule in the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960.

The Act itself emanates from Article 326 of the Constitution, which guarantees the right to enrol as an elector to all adult citizens who are ordinarily resident in a particular constituency and have not been otherwise disqualified.

“The Central Government may, after consulting the Election Commission, by notification in the Official Gazette, make rules for carrying out the purposes of this Act,” reads Section 28 of the RP Act, 1950.

In the past, changes to Form 6 required an amendment to the Act itself by Parliament and/or an amendment and notification to the rules by the Law and Justice Ministry. Two senior former EC officials speaking on condition of anonymity said any change to the form would require at least an amendment and notification by the Law Ministry as the EC does not have the power to do so.

“The EC cannot even add a comma to the form on its own,” one of the former officials said.

For instance, after Parliament amended the Act in 2021 to allow the EC to collect Aadhaar numbers of electors, the Legislative Department of the Law Ministry issued a notification on June 17, 2022 making the necessary changes to the Registration of Electors Rules and Form 6.

The EC did not respond to a request for comment and Legislative Department Secretary Rajiv Mani could not be reached despite repeated attempts.

Form 6 is the statutory form for either those who have newly become eligible after turning 18 years of age or acquiring Indian citizenship or deleted voters who want to apply afresh. The existing Form 6, which is published in the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, asks the applicant to provide the name and EPIC number of those family members with whom they currently reside.